


When the Lights Go Out

by siobhane



Category: Final Fantasy VIII, The Crow (Comics)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Murder, Occult, Resurrection, Retribution, Revenge, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-09
Packaged: 2018-10-16 14:44:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10573422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/siobhane/pseuds/siobhane
Summary: Sometimes love transcends even death.  AU, with elements of The Crow.





	

 

 

 

 

 

> _**At this hour** _
> 
> _**Lie at my mercy, all mine enemies.** _
> 
> _~william shakespeare_
> 
> _The Tempest_

The Cowboy stood on the corner of Deling Street and Bougainvillea Way, a battered guitar on a frayed nylon cord slung across his chest. He strummed the instrument, adjusted the tuning, and began to finger-pick a sad melody that was in stark contrast with the bright October morning. Perched on his shoulder, a stately bird, almost too large to be real, preened its glossy, iridescent black feathers, indifferent to the passing pedestrians.

It fixed a bright, beady eye on Rinoa Heartilly as she passed, and she stopped to listen to the Cowboy's song. City girls like Rinoa didn't stop for street musicians, especially not city girls who were busy journalists with big stories to investigate. It would be wise to move along, but there was something about the Cowboy that compelled Rinoa to pay attention.

His face was hidden by the brim of a black stetson, his mouth and chin in shadow. Tall and lanky, the man's long, black duster wore him and not the other way around, and his long, stringy auburn hair could use a wash.

This was the kind of man smart girls avoided. Hustler, grifter, panhandler – the kind of man her father believed part of the problem in this city.

In Rinoa's opinion, men like her father were the problem, men who were ambitious, greedy, ruthless, with no qualms about trampling on those beneath them for profit. Men like her father didn't understand empathy or compassion, or how some people were willing to make sacrifices to chase a dream.

The Cowboy's melody became a dirge, a funeral march, something so sad Rinoa could only pause and listen as Deling City's denizens shouldered past her, their eyes and ears blind to his sad, beautiful song.

On his shoulder, the crow gave a pointed caw as the Cowboy strummed the final chord and bowed to his audience of one. Rinoa clapped and dug a twenty from her purse to put in the open guitar case at the man's boot clad feet. She stepped forward and looked down at the collection of things inside: a wadded receipt, a handful of arcade tokens, an assortment of coins and an empty drink cup.

"No need, darlin'," he said. "You hang on to that."

"But I want to," she said and offered the bill for him to take. "The song was lovely."

"Do me a favor," he said. "Do something nice for yourself today, something you wouldn't normally do."

"How about I buy you a cup of coffee, then?"

"Appreciate the offer, but I've given up my worldly vices. Coffee included."

"How could anyone give up coffee?" Rinoa asked. "Some days, it's the only thing keeping me vertical."

The cowboy pushed his hat back on his head as the crow cried out and fluttered its inky wings.

"We all have our weaknesses," he said, "money, love, _coffee_. Things that make the days easier to get through. Mine was always women and guns, but those days are long past. These days, my mistress is a little less... _earthly_."

Of course Rinoa would stop to listen to the one street performer with a religious agenda. She stepped back, wary of a sermon on Hyne's Grace but the Cowboy only tipped his hat and placed his guitar back in its case.

"Everyone always thinks they have plenty of time to do the things they want to do with their life," he said. "But that ain't true, darlin'. Everybody's got a finite number of days in them, so don't go putting off the things that make you happy until tomorrow. May not be a tomorrow, understand?"

Rinoa did, but she didn't. It was as line of reasoning that appealed to Rinoa's impulsive and sometimes rash sensibilities, but it also seemed a little foreboding in light of the information she had tucked away in her messenger bag.

Information that could take down an Empire.

She couldn't afford to linger on the street when there was a literary time-bomb in her bag.

"Thank you for the song," she told the Cowboy. "I should be going."

"I expect you should," he said. "I'll be seeing you, Rinoa Heartilly."

Rinoa hurried away but spared a glance back as she headed to her father's offices three blocks away. The Cowboy and his bird were gone, as if they'd never been there in the first place.

It only then occurred to her, she never gave him her name.

* * *

"So, Elle, when are you going to go out with me?" Detective Seifer Almasy asked. "Dinner, dancing, a little..."

"Sexual misconduct?" she asked. "I don't think so."

Seifer chuckled and ignored his partner's glare. He pushed away from the counter to fondle the geodes and crystals on display on a small wooden rack, then turned to a selection of books on various occult topics that were of no real interest to him.

"You really believe all this stuff, El?"

"I believe there are things in this world that can't be explained by logic and science alone," she said. "Not everything is cut and dry."

"Yeah, but magic?" he said. "Seems kinda like a bunch of hoodoo bullshit to me."

"I don't judge you for your opinions," she said. "Don't judge me for mine."

Squall pushed past Seifer, cast his eyes to the side with a look that said he'd break every one of Seifer's fingers if he didn't knock it off, and passed a pair of photos across the glass counter top.

"These two come in here recently?" he asked.

Ellone peered at the photos and nodded. "Last Tuesday, I think. I remember them both."

"What did they want?"

"The big guy wanted a palm reading," she said. "The woman didn't say much, but she bought a book on meditation. Probably needed it. She kicked him twice before they left."

Seifer didn't buy any of this spiritual and metaphysical crap, but every now and then, Ellone shook his conviction it was just a bunch of garbage. The woman knew things.

Either she was really, really good at reading people and parlayed that talent into a convincing con, or she was an actual psychic. In spite of his resistance to all this new-age hokum, Seifer was inclined to believe the latter. Ellone was so good at reading people's darkest secrets, she occasionally picked up work with the Deling City police department. Often, her gift helped solve cases that were nearly cold.

"What was the outcome?" Squall asked, all business. "Of the reading?"

"Too much masturbation is bad for you," Seifer said. "Chafes the skin."

Squall's glare was cool but level and Seifer chuckled, delighted as always to unnerve his partner.

"And you wonder why I won't go out with you," Ellone said. She turned her attention to Squall. "Nothing memorable. Middling lifeline, a troubled relationship, probably with the woman he came in with."

"Have they been in here before?" Squall asked.

"Not that I recall," she said. "I'll let you know if they come back."

"Appreciate it," Squall said. "See you at dinner tonight?"

"Of course," Ellone said. "Though, I still think you should have invited Laguna. He is your father, after all."

"I'm still awaiting the results of the paternity test," he said. "Jury's out till then. Besides, Caraway will be there. I'd rather not ruin the party for Rinoa by putting the two of them in the same room. He'll be lucky to get an invitation to the wedding."

Rinoa's father was closest thing Loire had to competition, and while the two maintained a rather one-sided public feud on Caraway's part, the last time the they'd been in the same room, it devolved into Laguna launching into a series of terrible jokes as he flicked spoonfuls of mushy peas at a drunken Caraway until Caraway took a swing. Seifer found a bit of childish glee in it, but it was for the best the two were kept out of each other's way.

How Laguna Loire controlled 2/3 of the world's media outlets, both broadcast and print, was beyond Seifer, but he supposed Loire must have been doing something in the years he wasn't there to be a parent. Not that Caraway was any better, but his brand of absenteeism was more of the emotional sort.

"Hey Elle, wanna be my date tonight?" Seifer asked.

"Thanks for the offer," Ellone said. "But last I heard, hell was still an inferno and in no danger of freezing over, so no."

Squall chuckled and scratched his chin. "You're feisty today. Give me an hour and I can fix that."

"Do me a favor when you get back to the office," Ellone said. "Find a dictionary and look up the word _no_ so you can reacquaint yourself with the definition, since it seems you're not clear on what it means."

Seifer pressed a hand to his chest, feigning hurt. Squall worried about his sister and her safety in this hyneforsaken city, but she could hold her own.

"Knock it off," Squall said. "Almasy, let's go."

Outside, Squall unlocked the car and climbed into the driver's side. Seifer was forbidden to operate a precinct vehicle after an incident involving a high speed pursuit that ended with him driving a car through a department store window and into a shopping mall full of people. It was a damn good thing he had some pull with Captain Kramer, otherwise, Seifer wouldn't have a badge.

Sometimes, being the adopted son of the boss had its perks.

"She's crazy about me," Seifer said with a smirk as he took his place in the passenger seat. "She wants me."

"You're delusional," Squall said, "and if you don't lay off, there are plenty of ways to make your death look like an accident."

"The heart wants what it wants," Seifer said.

"You're just doing this because she's my sister."

"Could be," Seifer agreed. "So, where to?"

"You can do whatever you want. I'm going home," Squall said. "I have a thousand things to do before tonight, and as of an hour ago, I'm off the clock for the next two weeks."

"Marriage is a mistake, my friend," Seifer said. "Next thing you know, you'll be moving out to the suburbs, buy a mini van, Rin'll get knocked up but you won't be there when the kid's born because you'll be wading through some bozo's brain tissue for bullet fragments."

"You let me worry about that."

"I mean, what's the point?" Seifer continued. "You don't have to stop living just 'cause your brain's being poisoned by chemicals and hormones that convince you there's some deep, profound attachment, when really it's just biology and decent sex on a regular basis."

"This isn't living," Squall said to the windshield. "This is just a job."

"Boring."

"It'll happen to you some day," Squall predicted. "But not with my sister."

An hour later, Seifer parked his personal vehicle in front of Ellone's shop, got out, locked it, and wandered back inside. Ellone rang customer purchases as Seifer thumbed through books on crystal magic and herbal remedies. He browsed until the customers left, then watched them cross the road through the window as he reached over and locked the door.

"I knew you'd be back."

She came around the counter, her smile knowing.

"Want me to close the shades?" he asked as he slipped his hands around her small waist. "Or should we give the neighborhood a show?"

* * *

Halfway to the office, Rinoa's phone rang. She answered with a clipped greeting in anticipation of her father's call to cancel their scheduled meeting. It wouldn't be the first time, but she had information he would want to see, and she was too anxious to get the story to print to let him push her aside again.

"Hey, it's me."

Rinoa relaxed. "Hey Z-"

"Don't say my name, okay?" he said. "Can you meet me? At the place we talked about? I have something you really need to see."

Rinoa checked her watch. She was already late, but her father would forgive her if her tardiness was related to her developing story.

"Yeah," she said. "Give me about twenty minutes?"

"I'll be waiting."

Rinoa hailed a cab and gave the driver an address. He peered at her in the rear view mirror, his brows knitted together in a question mark.

"You sure you wanna go there? It ain't safe, even this time o' day."

"It'll be fine," she said and hugged her bag against her chest. "Just drive."

It was a short drive from downtown to the derelict warehouse district. Outsourcing and technology effectively killed Deling City's manufacturing industry, and as companies folded or moved operations to cheaper locations, dozens of decaying buildings were left unused. They lined the empty streets like carcases, and Rinoa shivered as she thought of how isolated this place was.

The driver stopped in front of a building with busted windows and rust stained bricks and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Wait for me," she said. "Keep the meter running. I'll only be a few minutes."

The door to the warehouse office was open a crack, and Rinoa stepped inside to near perfect darkness. Though daylight and warm out, it was barn-cold inside and the sunlight didn't reach this space. She flicked on a small flashlight she kept in her bag and located the door to the room beyond. He would be waiting in an office on the second floor.

A whisper-soft sound cut through the silence and Rinoa suppressed a shriek. A caw rang out, and Rinoa trained her flashlight to the rafters above. Perched on a beam, a crow watched, flapped its wings and called out again.

Her heart thumped in her chest, but there was nothing to fear from the bird.

Upstairs, her contact waited in the office they discussed months ago, after he was brave enough to come forward. At the time, his information was less concrete and based on suspicion, but it led Rinoa to look into his claims, and what she found was crazy enough to pursue.

Zell Dincht sat on the edge of a drafting table, his feet swinging back and forth as he thumbed a file folder. He looked up when Rinoa entered and grimaced when the flashlight's beam shined directly into his eyes.

"Sorry," Rinoa said. "Didn't mean to blind you."

"No big," he said and hopped off the table. "I'm risking a lot by meeting you here."

"I understand, and I appreciate it," she said. "Where's the file?"

"You gotta promise me something, Rin," he said. "Before I give you anything, you gotta promise me, when you sink this ship, I ain't goin' down with it."

"I'll keep your name out of it," she said. "Maybe if you went to the station, and told them everything, Kramer might be able to help you."

"I'm as good as dead if I do that, and you know it," Zell said.

"There's witness protection -"

"Yeah, you know what happened to the last guy who turned on him?" Zell asked. "That guy was supposed to be in federal witness protection. They found him floating face-up in the fountain outside the Palace."

"Yes, well, that guy also posted photos of himself in his new location on social media," Rinoa said. "Any armchair detective could have found him."

"Yeah, that's not comforting."

"Are you going to give me the file or not?"

Zell dropped the folder on the table. "Make it fast."

"What is this?" Rinoa asked as she scanned the pages inside.

"Everything you need to take him down," Zell said. "That's what you asked for, right?"

None of the information made any sense at a glance, but they were financial records of some sort. Lists of employees and phone calls. Copies of E-mails. She saw a familiar name on one of them and frowned.

"Please tell me Squall's not part of this," Rinoa murmured.

"Pshh," Zell said. "Doubt it. But, Elle is. He pays for everything. Her rent, her business, all of it."

"No, Ellone would never be involved in this."

"It's all there, Rin," Zell said. He hopped from one foot to the other, then snatched the folder from her hands. "Promise me my name doesn't come up. Can you do that?"

Rinoa nodded. "No names. I'll just tell everyone this just mysteriously appeared in my inbox."

"Yeah," Zell said. He leaned in and gave Rinoa a peck on the cheek, then pressed the folder back into her waiting hands. "Gotta go."

He pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head and flashed her a boyish smile.

"Zell, if you change your mind, let me know," Rinoa said. "I'm sure there's a way we can protect you."

His smile fell and he shook his head. "Nah, you can't."

* * *

 


End file.
